ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 45 



yellowish flesh-color, and Bhadod with faint greenish blue on the joints and along the toes; webs light 

 dirty reddish brown I tarsus and toes beneath dark brown ; nails black. The feathers of the ear-tuft 

 not yet fully out, their bases still in the sheaths. Very leau. 



No. 92933.— Iris daik brownish gray. Bill brownish gray, darker on the basal portion, tip blackish ; 

 the "rosette" similarly colored; naked eye-ring blacki.sh ; interior of mouth light flesh color. Feet 

 light pearly gray, each soutellum with a brownish spot in the middle ; webs, soles, and nails blackish. 



No. 92930. — Iris grayish brown. Color of bill like that of the foregoing, but a little darker, especially 

 on the upper mandible. Feet of a middle gray, with a faint tinge of yellowish olive ; webs and soles 

 blackish. 



No. 92929. — Iris grayish brown. Colors only a trifle lighter than in the foregoing. 



There is still great confusion and uncertainty among authors con- 

 cerning the changes of plumage and bill ornaments in the two groups, 

 Fraterculinw and Phaleridince. The observations which I have had the 

 opportunity to make in regard to the moult of the wing-feathers of the 

 latter, and which are recorded under the head of Simorhynchus pyg- 

 mccus, are conclusive, and sufficient as far as this group is concerned, 

 there being no previous investigations published that I am aware of. 



The moult of the wing feathers of the Fraterculince have been studied 

 in Fratercula arctica, among others, by Mr. Gerbe.* The process is said 

 to be performed in April, at the commencement of the general moult, 

 and before the season of the propagation begins. The moult is said to 

 take place in such a manner that the primaries are thrown off" simultane- 

 ously, the secondaries following a few days after, thus reducing the 

 wings to mere fins, and making the bird incapable of flight for several 

 days. (Cf. Bureau, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1879, p. 17.) 



It will be seen that this process is exactly the reverse of what I have 

 shown to take place in the PhaleridinWj in which the moult occurs after 

 the breeding, being, besides, gradual and normal in every respect. 



None of the specimens of Lund a or Fraterctda collected by me, 

 although from different seasons, were in the act of moulting, and 

 my material of these species is therefore less conclusive than that of 

 Simorhynchus pygmwus. The condition of the wing-feathers in the 

 different specimens, however, indicate, with a probability very nearly 

 approaching absolute certainty, that the moult of the remiges in Lunda 

 cirrliata and Fratercula corniculata does not differ materially from that 

 of the Phaleridince ; consequently that it is a postnuptial, and not a pre- 

 nuptial moult. This is pretty evident from the fact that my September 

 specimens have the remiges much blacker, and fresher than those killed 

 in May, in fact, quite new and perfect, while the female collected in the 

 beginning of June has the remiges worn, and with all signs of being old 



* Observation sur la mani&re dont s'accomplit la mue des remiges chez le Macareux 

 luoine (Rev, et Mag. de Zool., 1875). 



